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Vito (presbyter)
Vito was a presbyter of the Christian Church in Rome who spoke for Pope Sylvester I at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. He claimed that Rome was the highest seat of the church, and he had full authority and voting powers due to carrying Sylvester's ring and voting in his place. Biography Vito was born in Rome, Italia, Roman Empire, and he was ordained a presbyter of the Catholic Church. By 325 AD, he was only a Presbyter but Sylvester, Bishop of Rome sent him to the First Council of Nicaea as his representative, and Vito carried his seal. He was charged with speaking for Sylvester on all issues; as his official spokesman, he would cast his vote by proxy and would represent a group total of 25 votes due to the respect in which Sylvester was held. While Vito was sad that his health did not allow him to come to Nicaea, Vito was both proud and humbled by what he had entrusted to him. Vito considered Sylvester the first Bishop of the Christian Church and traced Rome's Ecclesiastical lineage to Saint Peter himself because of Jesus' words "On this Rock I will build my Church". Vito knew that the Bishop of Rome should be the leader of the church, and Vito sought to establish this position by being outspoken in his support of Constantine the Great and his program; the Catholic Church will need his support to gain the status Sylvester desired for Rome. Beyond this, Vito's goals were, like his, to form a single coherent church with common, agreed upon doctrine and clear lines of authority. Vito believed theological uniformity was as essential to the mission and identity of the Church as political uniformity in leadership was to the stability of the Roman Empire, and that papal primacy was the key to that heavenly order. Few, in fact, disagreed with this notion or with the idea that the successor of Peter should be the "Primus inter Pares" (first among equals). What was less clear to all, including his own partisans, is what this primacy meant. Vito generally agreed with the Alexandrian theology that Jesus was co-eternal with God the Father. Thus, he opposed the ideas of Arius and tried to have them declared heresy. However, he hoped that Arius' followers could be brought into the Church and that it could be as inclusive as possible. Only if they were completely intransigent and unwilling to bend to Sylvester's rule would Vito work to expel them. Vito was somewhat flexible with respect to the proposed Creed for the faithful. The Creed was only a first step in understanding of the faith. Some of Vito's colleagues seemed to miss the fact that there were deeper truths of the faith that were unknown to the initiates. It was possibly through the recent growth in the number of Bishops that some had come to the post without fully understanding the faith. Vito wanted a good creed, but did not place as much emphasis on it and could be somewhat flexible. One issue that would come before the council was the date for the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. In Gaul, the Resurrection of Jesus was always celebrated on 27 March. This was close to the Vernal Equinox, which was a traditional time of a major pagan holiday. Vito was not happy with making a strong connection between the Resurrection of the Lord and a pagan festival, but he also recognized the practical advantages of a fixed date for the growth of the church. The use of a fixed date also added some separation from the post-Temple Judaism that was also an appealing reason for a fixed date. Another issue was the status of Bishops and Priests (and other Christians) who avoided death as martyrs either by bribing Roman officials or by making sacrifices to the gods to save their lives during the last persecution. Vito was sympathetic with the plight of these people and wanted them restored as quickly as possible to full membership in the Church; thus, he opposed any punishment for them. God would judge them in the end, but Vito did not feel they should be excluded. People were pouring into the churches and Vito worried that many of them asked for baptism not out of faith but to gain political jobs; it was now impossible for the church know who were the true believers now that membership was not a death sentence. Vito thought that some kind of provisional status should be required to give church officials time to assess the lives of new converts before they were allowed full communion. Finally, Vito wanted to form a common front with other Bishops of the large cities who felt that they should be considered senior to those from the provincial areas. In Africa, the Bishop of Alexandria once held power over all of the other Bishops of the area. Recently, there was a breakup of this system and the small town Bishops were seeking equality. Vito saw this as a mistake which will lead to chaos - it would also diminish Rome's power. If a hierarchy was established, Vito could make the argument that the Bishop of Rome and heir to St. Peter should be first among the Bishops. The Bishops of the major regional centers should report directly to Rome and the local bishops should be under control of the regional bishops. This kind of hierarchy had served the Roman Empire well in many contexts and Vito thought it would provide the best organization for the Church as well. Vito would need to make this argument persuasive since there were fewer major Bishops than minor ones. Also, the other major bishops may not have wanted to be subservient to Rome, so Vito did not want to make a major push for the primacy of Rome at that point. One resource that could be useful was the text known as 1 Clement, attributed to St. Clement, the third Bishop of Rome after St. Peter. 1 Clement had status for many Christians equal to the other sacred texts and included instructions from Clement as Bishop of Rome to the church of Corinth regarding church organization. It could be used to suggest that from early times, Rome had been the seat of the Church hierarchy and that Rome exemplified the principle of apostolic succession: that all Bishops should trace their consecration in direct line to one of the Apostles. Vito wanted to purge the Church once and for all of the Arian heresy. Vito preferred to do this by articulating a clear theological position that would win them over. It was important to do this to demonstrate the primacy of Rome in the Church. Since this was the first issue for the Council, Vito could demonstrate his influence by succeeding in this goal. If some of the Arians remained unconvinced in spite of his arguments, then he could accept the fact the lack of unity that would result. Vito opposed any participation of women in the clergy. He was concerned that as the Church attracted more and more people, it would be difficult to insure that new members were true believers. For this reason, Vito believed access to full membership should be done in stages with a period of waiting before full acceptance into the church and eligibility for ordination as a bishop or priest. In line with his belief that his mentor, Sylvester of Rome was the rightful leader of the entire Church, Vito sought a canon which allowed the Metropolitan Bishops to maintain their power. This would insure a hierarchy of Bishops that gave Rome power over Italy. He would be even better served if he could succeed in having the Bishop of Rome declared Pope, the primary bishop for the whole Church. If Vito would not be successful in having the Bishop of Rome declared Pope, he would propose or support a canon that councils such as the present one should be the final authority on all issues of church doctrine. Vito was not trying to set the Bishop of Rome up as any kind of monarch over the rest of the church; all he wanted was to establish that Rome was the Bishop most closely tied to Peter and therefore the most prestigious and authoritative of the Metropolitans. Christians in Rome had traditionally used the lunar calendar to determine when to celebrate the Resurrection; Vito wanted this to be continued. One way to increase the influence of Rome in the Church would be to assign the Metropolitan of Rome the responsibility to monitor the lunar calendar and announce the date of this holiday each year. The Resurrection occurred on the 14th day after the new moon following the Spring Equinox according to the scriptures, and the Church already decided that the celebration should occur on a Sunday following this each year; Vito believed that this should be followed by the whole Church. Some Bishops would certainly try to add other documents to the list of commonly accepted scriptures. Vito opposed this because he felt the commonly accepted documents were all that were necessary for the faith. The Bishop of Rome was very eager to bring all Christians who succumbed to persecution back into the church. Therefore, Vito would work to have the Council approve a canon that allowed them back without punishment. This was an issue on which he could demonstrate that Rome was providing moderate ecclesial leadership. Vito saw no role in the Church for women as clergy or worship leaders. While he recognized the important roles they played in the early Church, he feared that the growth of the Church will be difficult if it instituted policies that were drastically opposed to the prevailing culture of the Roman and Greek societies in which the Church was growing; Vito would seek a canon from the Council that kept women in their place. Category:Roman priests Category:Romans Category:Priests Category:Catholics